Your Life Has Been Delayed

Gr 8 Up–It’s August 2, 1995, and Jenny Waters is a normal teenage girl, boarding a flight home after visiting her grandparents in New York City. She spends the flight plotting how to convince her parents to let her apply to Columbia University (her dream journalism school) and fantasizing about having her first kiss with her new boyfriend Steve. But when her plane lands, it’s not 1995. Somewhere on the approach to St. Louis, her plane jumped ahead in time 25 years. The book focuses almost entirely on Jenny’s adjustment to the shock of technological advancements and the people in her life being so much older. There are a few moments where Mason misses the mark, notably when Jenny (who is white) blurts out her surprise that her brother’s wife is Black, something that wouldn’t even be unusual in 1995. Additionally, the only other person of color is the high-achieving Asian bully who is co-editor-in-chief of the school paper. The novel, however narrow in its scope, does succeed at examining the way rapid advancements in technology have completely changed our way of life—something adult readers might find more nostalgic and compelling than teens.